Suya House
NakatsugawaMade of crushed chestnuts with a subtle hint of sugar, kuri-kinton is a special sweet enjoyed during autumn in Japan. Eating fresh kuri-kinton is said to prolong life by 75 days, probably from the pleasure it gives. The history of this sweet goes back to Edo period, when the great-grandfather of Ryoichi Akai, the eleventh and current head of the Akai family, started making it. Before that, the Akai family ran a pawnshop and was in the vinegar making business, which gave them the name Suya (su means vinegar and ya means shop). When the traffic on the Nakasendo highway connecting Edo to Kyoto picked up, Suya started a wholesale business supplying tea-sweets to shop along that road. Their location in the inn-town of Nakatsugawa on the highway in Gifu prefecture has assured them an abundant supply of the chestnuts that grow in this area.
The present Suya house and garden are located at the foot of Mount Ena not far from the center of Nakatsugawa city. The house was built in 1917 as the summer villa for Mokuemon Hazama, a powerful landlord who is said to have owned enough property to go across town without having to cross other people’s land. After this house changed hands a few times, the Akai family who were relatives of the Hazama family acquired it in 1980.
The Suya garden was built in the style of Kyoto gardens, by a gardener from Kyoto. The important feature of this garden is the use of abundant water from the mountains nearby. The garden pond is fed by an aquifer from Mount Ena that eventually flows into the Nakatsugawa River, keeping the building cool during summer. This pond was once full off golden carp, but over a period of time they have been lost to weasels, wild boar, and herons. The garden includes many large carefully laid stones. The one that forms a bridge is the largest among them, and is said to be from the same quarry as the stone of the tori gate of the nearby Nishinimiya shrine.
Mokuemon Hazama is said to have organized summer boating parties around his garden pond during the full moon in bygone days. It is easy to imagine the guests enjoying the reflection of the moon on this pond, to the accompaniment off music and dancing.
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